1. Field of Disclosed Subject Matter
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for implementing more efficient operations of image forming devices by providing a user-interactive scheme for delaying printing of individual user-requested print operations when an individual image forming device to which the user-requested print operations are directed is determined to be in a power saving mode.
2. Related Art
Modern office and other production workspace environments make beneficial use of myriad electronic devices in direct and networked communication with each other. These connected electronic devices streamline communications between individuals in the organization and accomplishment of production tasks by the organization. Individual user workstations, accessible by one or more users, are employed to provide the platform that facilitates user interaction with the production devices. Outputs from individual user workstations may include point-to-point interactive communications, digital data outputs (raw and/or analyzed) often stored for further analysis or other uses, operating instructions for one or more production devices and other like outputs.
The proliferation of electronic devices places increased burdens, physical and economic, on a user organization particularly with regard to providing power to the devices and in paying for the power consumed by the devices. In an effort to mediate these costs, electronic “brains” associated with the individual user workstations, and with the other devices with which those user workstations communicate, often include processing modes, ranging from simple to sophisticated, that place the individual devices into power saving conditions or modes during periods of relative and/or measured inactivity. Often referred to as “sleep” or “stand-by” modes, these power saving conditions or modes of operation cause the devices to be maintained in some level of powered-up preparedness with some monitoring capacity for incoming commands to operate the devices.
In office workspace environments, particular devices, which make significant beneficial use of less-than-fully-operational power saving modes, are the many and widely varied types and classes of image forming devices. These devices tend to be subjected individually to significant or extended periods of inactivity. When, however, a device is tasked by a user sending a user-requested image forming operation to the device, the user would generally like to know that the user-requested image forming operation is being accomplished in an expeditious, or at least an expected, manner. This is particularly the case when the image forming device is positioned remotely from the user workstation. The user may want to know, for example, that the user-requested image forming operation is complete prior to going to the remotely-positioned image forming device to retrieve the product of the completed image forming operation.
Image forming devices, including, but not limited to, copiers, printers, scanners, facsimile units and multi-function devices (MFDs) incorporating a plurality of these functions, are familiar in office workspace environments. Depending on the function, the image forming device may include several time-consuming “warm-up” steps once turned ON to be readied to perform the available image forming functions. Hardware components may, for example, need to be activated to achieve certain operating parameters, including being heated to a certain operating temperature, accelerated to a certain operating speed, raised to a certain level of operating luminescence or charged to a certain operating charge level, prior to signaling readiness of the image forming device to perform the image forming functions. Software components may, for example, need to execute some form of “boot up” routine prior to becoming active. Separately, processing components may need to assess and/or collect stored data in order that an interpreter or equivalent operating routine, which may be required to process incoming image data and layout instructions, is made available to convert the data and instructions into a particular form that is usable by the hardware components.
Based on the above, overall operations for image forming devices may benefit significantly from the provision of separate active (operating) and inactive (sleep or stand-by) modes. The ability to switch between the inactive mode and the active mode balances power conservation with operational efficiency. Anyone who operates image forming devices understands that these devices consume significantly less energy in the inactive mode than they do in the active mode. The inactive mode is equally useful in maintaining hardware and software components in a semi-ready state to abbreviate the time expended in performing the steps necessary to go from the inactive mode to the active mode.